Comments on: Attorneys and White Papers: The Common Thread http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2006/07/27/attorneys-and-white-papers-the-common-thread/ Everything about writing and marketing white papers Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:38:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: DamionKutaeff http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2006/07/27/attorneys-and-white-papers-the-common-thread/#comment-58806 DamionKutaeff Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:38:42 +0000 http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2006/07/27/attorneys-and-white-papers-the-common-thread/#comment-58806 Hello everybody, my name is Damion, and I'm glad to join your conmunity, and wish to assit as far as possible. Hello everybody, my name is Damion, and I’m glad to join your conmunity,
and wish to assit as far as possible.

]]> By: nettie hartsock http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2006/07/27/attorneys-and-white-papers-the-common-thread/#comment-18 nettie hartsock Fri, 28 Jul 2006 13:47:06 +0000 http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2006/07/27/attorneys-and-white-papers-the-common-thread/#comment-18 Very interesting. One of the things I did in one of my many lives as a writer was write legal settlement brochures and produce and shoot the videos. The premise of the brochures was to show the problem which most often was a death or severe injury, show the lives before the calimitous event, and then show the results of the loss or injury. We were creating a very persuasive document to "marshall our case" as Britton said in his comment. These pieces were quite compelling and were primarily used both in print form and in video as a tool to get the other side to settle. They would often be used in the last weeks prior to the court case when all other forms of settlement had failed. In creating this we were formulating the argument, interview witnesses, building a persuasive case and pre-empting objections in order to persuade the jury. I would also point out the growing sector of white papers written specifically to target the legal arena and the issues that they are dealing with whether it be case management software, or Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. If you go to this link you can see quite a few white papers just for the legal vertical and study how they are constructed etc. - http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/whitepapers.jsp . Very interesting. One of the things I did in one of my many lives as a writer was write legal settlement brochures and produce and shoot the videos. The premise of the brochures was to show the problem which most often was a death or severe injury, show the lives before the calimitous event, and then show the results of the loss or injury.

We were creating a very persuasive document to “marshall our case” as Britton said in his comment.

These pieces were quite compelling and were primarily used both in print form and in video as a tool to get the other side to settle. They would often be used in the last weeks prior to the court case when all other forms of settlement had failed.

In creating this we were formulating the argument, interview witnesses, building a persuasive case and pre-empting objections in order to persuade the jury.

I would also point out the growing sector of white papers written specifically to target the legal arena and the issues that they are dealing with whether it be case management software, or Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. If you go to this link you can see quite a few white papers just for the legal vertical and study how they are constructed etc. - http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/whitepapers.jsp .

]]> By: Britton Manasco http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2006/07/27/attorneys-and-white-papers-the-common-thread/#comment-17 Britton Manasco Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:07:02 +0000 http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2006/07/27/attorneys-and-white-papers-the-common-thread/#comment-17 Great post. Metaphors are powerful and this is a compelling one. Like you, I think the best lawyers -- and writers -- have a very disciplined process for engaging in the "discovery" process. They marshal the evidence to clearly and compellingly present their case. In fact, I suspect we will see the ongoing "professionalization" of marketing (and sales) move in a direction that is very much like the legal field. Much more emphasis will be placed on upfront research and carefully constructed "briefs" (to outline the case, establish a "precedent" and compile the facts), much less will be placed on actually "persuading" a jury of decision-makers. Remember, 95% of cases are settled out of court (which is like a wide open decision process where anything can happen). Rather than relying on salesmen to persuade the decision-makers, let the evidence speak for itself. Great post. Metaphors are powerful and this is a compelling one. Like you, I think the best lawyers — and writers — have a very disciplined process for engaging in the “discovery” process. They marshal the evidence to clearly and compellingly present their case. In fact, I suspect we will see the ongoing “professionalization” of marketing (and sales) move in a direction that is very much like the legal field. Much more emphasis will be placed on upfront research and carefully constructed “briefs” (to outline the case, establish a “precedent” and compile the facts), much less will be placed on actually “persuading” a jury of decision-makers. Remember, 95% of cases are settled out of court (which is like a wide open decision process where anything can happen). Rather than relying on salesmen to persuade the decision-makers, let the evidence speak for itself.

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